TW: Racism

Lance sighed as the breeze blew his bangs. He momentarily paused his journey around the park and closed his eyes. He felt relaxed; it was the perfect weather for him to walk around in his beloved jacket without overheating. There were few clouds in the sky and he had a feeling it might rain. Lance smiled at the thought of rain; he absolutely adored it! He loved how the cool droplets felt against his face and how it made his hair a mess. He loved how his clothes got wet because it reminded him so much of home. He loves remembering having the time of his life with his siblings; he loved remembering them sneaking out to play in the rain and jump in puddles. Heck he even loved remembering his mom yelling at them to get inside because they would get a cold, and low and behold Lance had gotten a cold. He loved every moment he spent with his family. With that happy thought he opened his eyes and kept walking through the park. 

His blue eyes flickered across the dancing leaves and the birds happily chirping in the tree branches. He watched as kids played on a play set and happy screams filled the air. He saw families having little picnics on blankets and saw dogs of all kinds running around. There was nothing but joy filling the warm air. The Cuban was glad he came outside after being in his homesick 'slump' the past few days. He thought traveling and moving was for him because he loved adventuring and he couldn't deny the fun he had but he missed his family and the homesickness hit him like a truck. He had talked to his mom the day before and she had convinced him to go explore after a good nights rest and that he did.

The blue eyed man was caught off guard when there was a cry that pierced the air. His older brother instincts kicked in and he turned around so fast he was sure he had whiplash. His blue eyes scanned frantically across the trees and the path before he saw a little boy. He jogged towards the boy to see what was wrong. When he made it the child, the boy looked up at him with big baby blue eyes that were filled with tears. The boys blonde hair was all tussled and his cheeks were red from the crying. Lance has always had a sweet spot with kids so his heart broke a little at the sight of such a distraught child. He crouched down in front of the child and asked, "What's wrong little guy?"  The boy had fresh tears pouring down his face and between sobs he said, "My b-balloon." The, what looked like a five year old, boy pointed his finger up the tree they were standing under. Lance followed to where the finger pointing to and saw a yellow balloon in the tree; its string attached to a branch that was a little bit higher than Lance could reach. 

Lance mentally sighed in relief at the small dilemma and gave a big smile to the kid before saying, "Don't you worry little man! I will have that balloon down in a jiffy!" 

The kid nodded and wiped the tears off his face as he watched the man clime his tree. 

Lance pulled himself onto a branch that was strong enough to support his weight. He put his hand against the trunk as he stood up on the branch. He could reach the balloon thanks to his height and started untangling it from the branch. He pulled it free and a grin made its way on his face. He grasped the string in a tight grip and carefully made his way onto the ground. Once his feet touched the ground he turned around to see the little boy. The little boy was there but so was an older lady, that was probably the boys grandma, standing next to him with a frown cemented on her face. Lance smiled at her and leaned down the give the boy the balloon. He wasn't expecting for the boy to be yanked out of his reach. His eyes widened and he looked at the lady as he stood back up. The dark eyes stared into Lance's blue eyes and the lady hissed, "We don't mess with your kind." 

Lance's eyes widened even more as memories began to pop up in his head about when he first visited the states with his family and how people had made fun of him for his accent and skin color. He remember being bullied daily and he remembered everything the bullies said to him. 

Lance takes a breath and says, "Ma'am, I just was retrieving your grandsons balloon. I saw him crying and thought I would help." 

The lady stared at him with dull eyes and the frown still on her face, "You were probably just gaining his trust so you could take him; for human trafficking or whatever the likes of you do for fun." The last word was hissed and Lance felt sick to his stomach that someone would think he would do something like that. 

"I can assure you I just wanted to help! I have younger siblings of my own, I would never do such a disgusting thing." The Cuban said with desperation bleeding through his voice.

"Your skin portrays a whole other story boy, now come on James. We don't have time for the likes of him." The lady finished as she grabbed her grandsons wrist and yanked him away.

Lance stood there in shock, the smile falling from his lip. Balloon in hand, he watched the little boy get dragged a long while he was still grasping at air in Lance's direction. Lance watched the little boy get farther and farther away. His heart broken and his happiness, from earlier, gone. He blinked as shock was finally wearing off and he looked sadly at the yellow balloon still in his hand, "It's just you and me, huh?" 

Lance sighed and started walking through the park. He kept his eyes downcast and kept the tears at bay. He just wanted to do something nice but instead he ended up getting hurt. He kept walking and felt raindrops started falling and this time it wasn't a happy rain. It wasn't like when he was with his siblings, this was a sad rain. The kind of rain found in sappy romances or movies when someone dies. It was heavy against his skin and clothes. He pulled up his hoodies and as he walked he kept glancing at the yellow balloon following him. He didn't know why he kept it but he did. It was abandoned just like he was. He was left out of equality and the balloon lost its family. He huffed out a laugh, he really was acting as if this balloon was alive.

The rest of the ten minute walk to his apartment passed in a haze. He unlocked his door and took off his shoes and jacket. He immediately felt the warmth from his apartment compared to the sad chill outside. He wondered into his room and plopped belly first onto the bed. He didn't saw his blind were cracked and grunted and flipped over onto his side to get away from the little sun coming in from it. He saw the yellow balloon floating in the corner of his room and he watched the balloon float and sway around.

 Tears finally made themselves present in his eyes and he started sobbing into his pillow. He pulled the covers over his head as he sobbed and sobbed. He could feel the stickiness of his clothes sticking to him because of the rain and it made him sob harder. He sobbed for believing that today was gonna be a good day. He sobbed for being so lonely and sobbed for being so homesick. He sobbed knowing that he was always gonna be discriminated against by someone. He sobbed knowing it was his idea to leave his family and travel. He sobbed knowing his only friend right now was the balloon. He sobbed knowing that the balloon would leave too. He sobbed knowing how pathetic he was. 

His blanket was covered in tears and his breaths were ragged from crying but the balloon continued to sway and sway and sway.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this! I have had this idea for awhile now and hopefully I portrayed this well! Thank you for reading!